Jewelers

Cape Breton jewellery themes are subject to influences similar to those of mainland Nova Scotia…the sea, the shore, Celtic history and tradition.

Cape Breton jewellers refine those influences, often combining the traditional materials like gold and silver with more indigenous materials such as coal, driftwood, beach glass and shells. The resulting rings, necklaces, pendants, earrings and bracelets represent a creative beginning shared between artist and nature.

Hammered silver, torched metal, cast Celtic themes in silver and gold, pieces of beach glass, coal, driftwood or semi-precious stones enhanced by silver strands….all play prominent roles in the work of Arts North jewellers.

Darryl MacLeod

Johanna Padelt

Gayle Bird

Johanna Padelt

Johanna is a self-taught artisan who has been making jewellery for almost forty years. She summarizes her feelings about her craft this way: "Jewellery in its highest form encompasses body and soul--adornment originating in the body and soul of the maker..........in turn enhancing the body and soul of the wearer."

Johanna has sold her work at her own craft shop, at craft fairs, at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and currently at Arts North which she helped co-found in 1981.

Johanna's designs are inspired from within--personal and archetypal motifs--and from without--forms taken from nature. The predominant form pervading her jewellery has been the spiral, present everywhere in nature, and symbolizing the eternally feminine and inner and outer realms of existence. It has been a prominent symbol in art and religion throughout the ages and continues to resonate with many people.............

While working predominantly in silver wire and sheet, hammered and formed or torch textured, Johanna also uses brass and copper, sometimes incorporating beads of various origins and found materials such as stone or wood. The focus of her design over the years has been to create works of elegant simplicity. Having lived in Cape Breton since 1971, Johanna spends her winters in Port Hood and her summers at her cabin in Sugar Loaf at the northern tip of the island.

Hammered silver earrings with amber addition

Sterling silver hooks.

Hammered silver earrings with sterling silver hooks

Available online or at the Arts North Gallery.

Email for online prices.

Hammered silver hair piece

Approx 2"h x 4"wide.

$48.00

Available online or at the Arts North gallery.

Hammered silver hair piece #2

Approx 2"h x 4"wide.

$48.00

Available online or at the Arts North gallery.

Hammered silver necklaces

Johanna's hammered silver necklaces show her appreciation of the nature of the metal, and her addition of semi-precious stones enhance the effect.

Available online or at Arts North.

Email for pricing and availability.

Pendants

Johanna's walks from her beachfront cabin yield a wide variety of beach stones, which she uses in her stone and silver pendants.

Johanna's pendants are available online or at the Arts North gallery. Email for prices and availability.

Darryl MacLeod

Darryl is an established, versatile jeweller with more than three decades of experience, working primarily in the "Lost wax" (vacuum induction) method of jewellery making. He is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (BFA. Ed).

Darryl's gold, silver and gemstone creations have included wedding rings, custom works, and jewellery design claiming a broad spectrum of appeal. Celtic inspired designs are often inherent in his work as well as recurring textural themes found in leaves, shells and fossils that reflect the natural beauty and heritage of Cape Breton.

Earrings and rings

This grouping of Darryl's earrings and rings illustrates his dedication to themes taken from the culture and environment of Cape Breton.

Prices vary according to variables of rarity, metal used and design

Gayle Bird

Gayle is a Senior Instructor of Digital Arts at the Cape Breton Centre for Distance Education, as well as a web designer frequently involved in creating sites for other local artisans. Gayle finds herself drawn to gemstones and their metaphysical properties, creating one-of-a-kind pieces intended for decorative and healing purposes. Gayle is self-taught, having spent approximately seven years refining her skills before offering her work for retail.

Inspired by the beauty of natural gemstones, whimsically-shaped glass, and beachcombed material, Gayle crafts exceptional jewellery out of silver wire. Elements such as coal, emeralds, shells, amethyst, peridot, and glass are all employed in these fresh designs she sketches in wire. As a graphic designer, Gayle's eye for colour and flair for composition motivates her to match the forms of the stones she works with to the perfect combination of metals and shapes to make each piece extraordinary and appealing. Each piece is a one-of-a-kind creation that will never be duplicated. Even pieces that coordinate as part of a series, while made of the same materials, are still be unique.

A Mermaid's Purse

Here is Gayle's pendant aptly named "A Mermaid's Purse".

Culptural jewellery

Gayle creates culptural jewellery crafted from hypo-allergenic, non-tarnishing silver wire and components such as gemstones, glass, coal, wood and shells. Her components are chosen for their beauty and/or metaphysical properties. With design training in the graphic arts and an eye for beauty in unexpected places, Gayle creates one-of-a-kind neckpieces, pendants, earrings, bracelets, and tiaras. This is Gayle's Ocean Temple earring and pendant set.

Gayle's Beach Glass Pendants

Beach glass, or "sea glass", is glass that's been pitched into the sea and tumbled around for dozens, or hundreds, of years. The salt, sand and rocks work to break down the porous outside edges of the glass, smoothing it and creating its distinctive "etched" look...making it a gemstone in its own right.

Beach glass' various colours are beautiful when set into jewellery. Being ever-conscious of her Cape Breton lineage, Gayle only uses local beach glass that she's gathered in and around Cape Breton. She frequently verifies the authenticity of the glass by noting the beach where it was found.

Gayle's beach glass pieces are priced according to rarity value, from $22.00 to $225.00, with common colours such as Kelly Green (pictured), White or Brown priced at $22.00 each.

Gayle's Gemstone Necklaces and Pendants

Gayle's pendants are one-of-a-kind creations in single-, double-, or triple-stranded wire using unique combinations of gemstones and colours.

Often she'll create pendants whose gemstones are intended to focus the wearer's energies in a certain direction.

Pictured are three variations on Strength featuring garnet and amber.

While the gemstone pendants vary in price from $25.00 to $95.00, Focus pendants are all $35.00 each.

Gayle's Rings

Every ring Gayle makes is unique and has its own voice.

Using glass, usually firepolished, as a centrepiece, Gayle mounts it on top of her signature swirled base, and at times will use gemstones if the stone is sturdy enough. On some occasions Gayle will twine sterling silver accent beads around the focal to make the ring seem more baroque.